/r9k/-tan's appearance has been through many revisions. At first he was simply depicted as a standard green faced anon in a fancy suit wearing a top hat and monocle. This was when /r9k/ was considered "classy" since every post had to be original.

Then /r9k/ became a robot, a clinically depressed robot. Or if not a robot, a guy wearing the same fancy outfit who acted like one.

/r9k/ is a nihilistic, self-pitying, and narcissistic. He is always whining about how he hates life and how life hates him back. He is misogynistic due to repeated rejections, many of which were only in his mind as he lacks the ability to even approach a woman (though a few women actually confirmed that he would be rejected even if he did ask, this didn't help matters). He spends his time philosophizing about politics, religion, and other weighty subjects. Poorly.

He also believes he is a robot, and may be trying to hide this fact from the other board-tans.